2021-07-22 01:35:16 GMT2021-07-22 09:35:16(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
WELLINGTON, July 22 (Xinhua) -- A joint study by scientists from New Zealand and Canada showed that silence is golden for marine life as COVID-19 lockdown slowed global shipping and reduced ocean noise.
As New Zealand's first COVID-19 lockdown began on March 26, 2020, the country's busiest coastal waterway, the Hauraki Gulf, became devoid of almost all non-essential vessels and noise levels plunged.
"That first lockdown really did give us an unprecedented opportunity to measure or quantify the effects of human activity on marine life," said University of Auckland marine scientist Associate Professor Craig Radford. "So we decided to take a look at the response of our marine organisms in this new, relatively calm world."